“(White)’s totally, he’s totally, you know, uh, he’s Senate material in a way that Emil Jones isn’t, if I may say,” Pritzker says, referring to former Illinois Senate President Emil Jones Jr., a Blagojevich ally who is now serving as a Kennedy surrogate in the 2018 governor’s contest.

“OK,” Blagojevich says.

“I mean, you know. He’s just, I don’t know how to say it exactly, but Emil’s a little more crass,” Pritzker continues.

“He’s been running around the black community talking about all the things he’s gonna do. Blah, blah, blah. … He’s trying to buy the black vote. He’s like a one-eyed jack. But, those tapes show you the other side of his face. This is what he really thinks about black folks,” said Jones, who has endorsed Chris Kennedy for governor.

“What he meant by ‘crass’ is that I’m an uppity black. I fight for my people and, sometimes, that ruffles feathers. What he was saying in comparing me to Jesse White is that Jesse White is a safe black. Jesse White is not gonna do what Emil Jones does. Dr. King was a crass black. Harold Washington was a crass black. It was said in a derogatory manner.” […]

“Look at the other side of his face. The other side of his face is that he does not accept strong black leadership. He likes acceptable blacks who are meek and won’t say anything,” Jones said.

Jones was not impressed when told that Secretary of State Jesse White, City Treasurer Kurt Summers and Aldermen Pat Dowell (3rd), Michael Scott Jr. (24th) and Walter Burnett (27th) all stood with Pritzker on Tuesday as the candidate offered his public apology.

“I expect that from them. They are all safe blacks. A safe black is not gonna challenge or do anything,” Jones said.

“This is a slap in our face, taking our community for granted, playing our community against each other, this is not the kind of leadership we need at this time,” said 9th Ward Alderman Anthony Beale.

Pritzker had recently been invited to speak at Sweet Holy Spirit Church, but Bishop Larry Trotter has now dis-invited him.

“For Pritzker to refer to (Emil Jones) as ‘crass’ is a slap in the face to every African American in Illinois. Just to think we are six days into Black History Month and a candidate for governor thinks it’s funny to join in on such derogatory discussions about our leaders,” Trotter said.

Organizer who said Pritzker rally who posted on FB postponed, has deleted that post, Pritzker team said "postponement had nothing to do with today" and asks me to take down original tweet, "miscommunication with the venue" #ILGov@JBPritzker (I'd rather hear from the organizer)

On the underlying issue - I don’t know how you could know Emil and call him crass. He wasn’t slick like some politicians, but he was in no way crass. He was always a gentleman to me, and I think his enthusiasm for certain causes was genuine.

thanks, rich. it’s surprising to me that blagojevich would have seriously considered jones. i know they were allies, but i’m not sure it would have made sense for jones. would he have even wanted the job?

Looks like the wheels are falling off the bus pretty fast. The statements coming out of his campaign are not up to par. Minimizing the role of the staffer who quit is unnecessary, why even comment on that. It will be interesting to see if Biss can somehow capitalize on this, but it’s possible that much of the support Pritzker loses in this snafu goes to Kennedy.

Are there any people left in either party who can honestly say that the information from these tapes should not have been made public and be known to voters? This is not to suggest at all that JB should leave the race, but it does seem that the conversations in question should be known about and be factored in to voters’ decisions as to how much or how little importance they carry with respect to JB’s character and viability as a candidate.

Why do you need to say that, without trying to minimize her importance in the same statement? Is that a good way to convey support to African-American staff who are staying on board. This Comms team is too much in constant anti-Rauner war mode to care about what their own party is thinking. Ridiculous.

Emil Jones is taking this very personal and I guess I can see why. But for the campaign staffer and some other of my black people being critical they need to realize some things as well. Everyone of us has said something in private that would look just as bad or worse. Also, with me being an African American male I believe our people are worse off under Rauner so those people being very critical of Jb need to take this into consideration. He is promoting policy that will help most black families unlike Rauner. While Rauner will hurt many families including a lot of my own people you have Jb willing to fund his own campaign to the tune of $100 million or more to combat Rauner and the damage he wants to do. That alone far outweighs some words Pritzker said 10 years ago.

Are those the words that Forby was referring to when Emil Jones put the interests of ComEd before the interest of the consumer back in 2007?

“There are some words I can’t use in the newspaper, but let’s just say he (Jones) got me,” Forby said. “Sen. Jones got what he wanted, the people in Chicago got what they wanted and I’m the guy that worked his tail off for months and then got left out in the cold.”

“If I live to be 100 years old, I’ll never forget what happened that day,” Forby said. “But in the end, what goes around comes around.”

Rauner’s a good dirt thrower. Too bad we’re not voting for a gardener. As a governor, however, Rauner is a disaster.

Veterans dying on his watch, back porch deals, billions more in unpaid bills, and the destruction of social services, universities, and the state’s credit rating are what make Rauner unelectable. That’s the here and now. Bantering with a buffoon a decade ago, not so much.

Whens the next poll coming out. JBs numbers are sure to plummet in the base he was counting on to coast through this primary. He better spend some of the $4 billion fast if he wants to be on the ticket in November. Biss is a talented speaker and the Kennedy name has huge street cred in the Black community. Antone doubt theres more to come in the next few weeks ?

While Cardinal Francis George of Chicago has led efforts to block passage of the gay marriage bill, the Roman Catholic Church also received help from a coalition of African-American clergy members led in part by Bishop Larry Trotter of Sweet Holy Spirit Church in Chicago. Trotter said upholding traditional marriage is about protecting the country’s “moral fiber” and called on Christians to “report for duty” in the effort to prevent gay marriage from becoming a reality in Illinois.

“We stand here today because we understand that if we don’t stand for something we will fall for anything,” Trotter said. “It is very clear to us that what could happen in this place is definitely against the word of God and the will of God.”

Pritzker was gunning for the African American votes. Lots of radio ads and signs everywhere on the south and west sides of Chicago. East St. Louis there are JB signs everywhere. He assume Rauner would not be competitive (true). Word is out, JB disrespects.

Umm, saying “Shove it up your ‘Crass’” kinda makes Pritzker seem right. Just saying, not particularly refined. And saying that Emil Jones represents all black people in IL they just are trying really, really hard to sell this.

Emil Jones needs to chill out over a word that was said 10 years ago. If he was wise which he should be then he would understand that black families are worse off under Rauner than we would be under Jb. The stakes are way too high for Emil Jones to give this to Rauner. And this is coming from someone that is black. You have a choice between a Gov that will do much damage to black families or a gov that said something you don’t like 10 years ago. You should be more wise than this Emil Jones. You should also know that Rauner’s allies are behind this leak.

Previously it has been noted that the Pritzker Group has a very low amount of females in leadership positions. In regards to African Americans, the Pritzer Group 0 African Americans in leadership positions; perhaps JB could not find any “safe blacks”?

I don’t want to sound like I’m defending Pritzker here, but I lever liked Emil Jones either and it had nothing to do with the color of his skin. I think you can not like someone or not respect someone on their own merit or lack there of.

–Spin it and distort it as one may, Jones was not U.S. Senate material,–

LOL ridiculous.

Regardless of your politics, pick any time you want in U.S. history (including now), and you’ll find Jones is way sharper and more refined than many of the nincompoops and chowderheads across the spectrum who’ve served in the Senate.

Rauner has to covet a match-up with the only Dem who comes from the GA. He can then continue his “me versus Madigan” mantra. Not that he won’t take that approach regardless of who comes out of the Dem Primary, but Biss is a much more direct line.

Again, look at the $. Rauner has spent how much so far trying to hurt Biss’ chances at the nomination? Zero? OK. Thanks Governor Rauner, but I’ll stick with JB.

I wonder how much this could hit the black vote if Pritzker manages to come out of this primary on top. If Rauner keeps hitting this into Nov does it depress black turnout enough to significantly bring Chicago and East St. Louis margins down? That could let Rauner slide in for the win if he also manages to pick up some moderate surburbanites.

And then, as OW points out, there might be other tapes. What other strong Dem demos are gonna get hit by future tapes?

It’s starting to look like the strategic thing to do is to cut Pritzker and rehab Kennedy or Biss. Make Kennedy look more ready for prime time or make Biss more palatable for fence-riding suburbanites.

At any rate, it’s sure starting to feel like my Dems are squandering an easy win by putting up only these very flawed candidates.

So the current response to the tape is “Look, a squirrel”? Interesting tactic, that. Making this about Emil or provoking a catfight between and among black politicians and constituencies certainly doesn’t seem like a way to solve the larger problem JB exposed for himself here. Just keeps the Blago convo/gossip-fest in the news. And not in a very good way.

Jones sees himself with an opportunity to actually try to become relevant again. If you are upset over a 10 year old comment, you need to get out more. There are people all over Chicago who are talking bad about Jones. He really wasn’t that special.

–So the current response to the tape is “Look, a squirrel”? Interesting tactic, that. Making this about Emil or provoking a catfight between and among black politicians and constituencies certainly doesn’t seem like a way to solve the larger problem JB exposed for himself here. –

Huh? Who’s doing what now?

Jones was mentioned on the tape, he didn’t like what was said and he’s had something to say about it. I don’t think Pritzker engineered that.

Trying to read Rauner’s mind is a good way to lose track of the big picture. It wasn’t that long ago that it seemed like the only thing certain Democratic circles seemed to be able to talk about was what Karl Rove thought and how nominating so-and-so would be playing into his hands. Nominate who you think is going to be the best candidate, not the one you think the guy with the 30% approval rating doesn’t want to face.

Weird, it’s almost like the Democratic Party coalescing around wealthy candidates ahead of semi-competitive primaries is a great way to send a baggage laden candidate to the general election for a right proper loss…

Don’t know if anybody “engineered” the response and pushback to Jones’ justifiable outrage or not. Maybe you do. But it is fascinating, and it looks to me like Pritzker supporters on this comment thread and elsewhere are somewhat uniformly taking the tack that Jones probably deserved what JB said about him on the tape and he should just get over it and shut up. Maybe giving Emil the space and respect to vent a little bit following JB’s apology– and allowing the black community to draw its own conclusions would look better to voters.

Responsa, Jones isn’t just taking outrage over a personal insult. He is acting as a stand in for all black people, or trying to, and saying (or at least implying) that Pritzker has some prejudices. In other words, seizing an opportunity to make a mountain out of a molehill. Now if you just hit Pritzker for thinking you have to “appease” black voters by appointing a black senator, fine, that’s mostly fair, but Jones and others are taking it beyond that.

You make some good points Perrid. Just don’t overlook that no matter how one views Emil, as long as the conversation continues to center around whether or not JB “has some prejudices” that came through in the Blago tape the Pritzker campaign is probably pretty far from where they’d like to be at this stage of the primary campaign.

I doubt this really moves the needle in African American community. Sure a lot of big names have spoken out against it, but a lot of big names have spoken in support of JB. Even if this causes some peel off of the black vote, JB still wins. Biss comes off as a condensing professor when he speaks to groups of people and does any one really care about Kennedy at this point?

I agree that Pritzker is still the likely primary front-runner, but does the “peel off of the black vote” occur in the general and how bad does that hurt Pritzker if that is the case?

Frankly I prefer Pritzker to any of the other gubernatorial candidates, but I am concerned that this hurts him in the general election even if he survives the damage it may cause him in the primary. I’d be happy to hear that I’m wrong on that.

===oubt this really moves the needle in African American community. Sure a lot of big names have spoken out against it, but a lot of big names have spoken in support of JB. Even if this causes some peel off of the black vote, JB still wins. Biss comes off as a condensing professor when he speaks to groups of people and does any one really care about Kennedy at this point?====
I have said from the begining that Kennedy gets 30% of the vote by just standing there. Mainly from the AA vote. Now his problem is he just doesn’t stand there but actually opens his mouth.

It’s too bad the troncs haven’t scored any tapes from that time of Blago and Zell talking quid pro quo to lay off the liability of Wrigley Field on taxpayers in exchange for favorable Tribbie coverage.

I hope they keep trying to get them.

Zell has a rather colorful way of speaking. I’m sure his Blago/Wrigley tapes would be highly entertaining.

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